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America Reframed Season 3 Episodes
Season 3 Episode Guide
26 Episodes 2015 - 2015
Episode 1
Purgatorio
Mon, Jan 5, 2015
Leaving politics aside, Reyes' PURGATORIO looks anew at the U.S./Mexico border and the people caught in its spell. The evocative Dantesque essay film presents the border as a mythical place exploring the vulnerability of the human soul, the violence man creates and the destruction left in its wake.
Episode 2
Trash Dance
Tue, Jan 13, 2015
Allison Orr, a modern dance choreographer, found inspiration in the movement of garbage trucks and the graceful dynamics of the workers who operate them. Orr transforms the initial skepticism and reluctance of her subjects into complete commitment to the dance. Together on a rainy night they perform a stunning spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two-dozen sanitation professionals and their trucks awe an audience of thousands.
Episode 3
American Heart
Tue, Jan 20, 201581 mins
A primary care clinic in Minnesota becomes a crossroads for perseverant refugees and their devoted doctors. We get an intimate look at the failing health and remarkable lives of Lem Thor, a former political prisoner from Cambodia; Patrick Junior, a member of an embattled ethnic minority in Burma; and Alex Gliptis, an Ethiopian refugee suffering from PTSD, diabetes and HIV.
Episode 4
Gaucho del Norte
Tue, Jan 27, 2015
Since the 1970's, sheepherders from South America have been brought to work in the American West. In the quiet, bucolic Patagonian countryside in the town of Bahia Murta with 587 inhabitants we meet Eraldo Pacheco, a thoughtful man who has recently arrived at a momentous decision. GAUCHO DEL NORTE follows Eraldo on his journey from Chile to Idaho.
Episode 5
Our Mockingbird
Tue, Feb 3, 2015
In the '80s, the desegregation of U.S. public schools peaked, but since then, schools have become even more segregated (Civil Rights Project). Our Mockingbird highlights the experiences of teens from two Birmingham, Alabama high schools -- one all black and one all white -- who collaborate on a production of the play, "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Episode 6
The Hill
Tue, Feb 10, 2015
Set upon building a new school, New Haven claims eminent domain over the Upper Hill neighborhood. With community leaders and a lawyer, a group of neighbors, mostly low-income African-American families, take the case to court. The Hill is a fascinating look at the complex issues surrounding urban planning, gentrification and economic renewal.
Episode 7
Shell Shocked
Mon, Feb 16, 2015
New Orleans is one of the "murder capitals" of the U.S.; statistics show murder rates are 4-6x higher than the national average. 80% of the victims are black males, mostly in their teenage years. Shell Shocked starts at the surface of the teen murder epidemic and delves into the hearts and minds of those whose lives are most deeply impacted.
Episode 8
A Will for the Woods
Tue, Feb 24, 2015
Musician and psychiatrist Clark Wang prepares for his own green burial while battling lymphoma, determined that his last act will be a gift to the planet. Boldly facing his mortality, Clark and partner Jane have inspired a local cemeterian, and together they aim to use green burial to save a North Carolina woods from being clear-cut.
Episode 9
Out in the Silence
Tue, Mar 3, 2015
When filmmaker Joe Wilson announces that he is to be wed to another man, a firestorm of controversy ignites his small Pennsylvania hometown. Drawn back by a plea for help from the mother of a gay teen being tormented at school, Wilson's journey dramatically illustrates the universal challenges of being an outsider in a conservative environment and the transformation that is possible when those who have long been constrained by a traditional code of silence summon the courage to break it.
Episode 10
Looks Like Laury Sounds Like Laury
Tue, Mar 10, 201560 mins
At the age of 45, actress, writer, wife, and mother-of-two Laury Sacks had a reputation as the quickest wit in the room. At the age of 46, she began forgetting words. Soon she could barely speak. When a friend suggested making a film to capture her fast-changing new life, Laury jumped at the idea. Laury was always a storyteller and she wanted to tell her last story herself. This is her story.
Episode 11
Stable Life
Tue, Mar 17, 2015
Dionicia Martinez and her teenage son, José Luis, have gambled their futures on the hardscrabble sport of horse racing. While gamblers make long-shot bets in the hopes of winning big, Dionicia, much like 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, stakes her life on finding a way out of poverty. In fact she lives in the stables at a California racetrack and works long hours caring for racehorses while José Luis is turning heads as a hotshot apprentice jockey. Dionicia dreams of bringing her two sons who remain in Mexico to join her in the U.S. But with the racetrack closing and her future uncertain, Dionicia must rethink her family's chances of finding a stable life.
Episode 12
Learning to Swallow
Tue, Mar 24, 2015
Learning to Swallow chronicles the story of Patsy, an artist who destroys her digestive system during an un-medicated bipolar episode. Despite her struggles to accept her condition, her inability to eat, and her emotional state, she reinvigorates her artistic voice in the process.
Episode 13
Yellow Fever
Tue, Mar 31, 2015
YELLOW FEVER follows Tina Garnanez, a Navajo veteran returning from duty with the U.S. Army who realizes that her home on the Navajo Reservation has become a battleground in a protracted war over nuclear proliferation. As she seeks to learn about her own family history and its relationship to the uranium mines, we witness her evolution from curious family member to environmental justice activist. While examining the positive and negative externalities of nuclear power and the impact of historical and long-term uranium mining on the Navajo Nation, she arrives at her own conclusions. In an effort to advocate against further contamination of Navajo land, Tina aligns herself with a group of Navajo grandmothers and heads to Washington, D.C. With the elders, she lobbies Congress, and thereby the nation, for the creation of new frameworks for a just and equitable energy policy.
Episode 14
Family Affair
Tue, Apr 7, 2015
A father's duty is to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. In the Colvard family, however, this sacred trust was violated and the crime was particularly heinous. Chico Colvard's three sisters survived severe emotional and physical abuse and repeated forcible rape at the hands of their father. At ten years old, Chico accidentally triggered a series of events that uncovered this secret and thirty years later armed with his camera he seeks to understand how his father has manipulated and controlled an entire family for life and the depth of his sisters' capacity to forgiveness.
Episode 15
The Perfect Victim
Tue, Apr 14, 2015
Three incarcerated women Shirley, Carlene, and Ruby were beaten, raped, sold, abused, and nearly killed by their husbands. Collectively, they've spent over eighty-five years in Missouri State prison each serving life sentences, convicted for having killed their husband's to save their lives. Through the years, the local press vilified these women, portraying them all as savage murderers without any knowledge of the ongoing abuse they suffered. With the help of impassioned lawyers and law students from the Missouri Battered Women's Coalition they begin a decade and a half long quest to secure their freedom. But will the judicial system and a notoriously secretive Missouri parole board give them a chance to renew their lives?
Episode 16
Hanna Ranch
Tue, Apr 21, 2015
HANNA RANCH is a feature documentary about a visionary and charismatic cattleman, Kirk Hanna. Through memories and intimate anecdotes, we learn about Hanna and his life from family members, colleagues and friends. Hanna Ranch was built in the 1940s by Kirk Hanna's father and grandfather, who came from New Mexico and chose the Colorado site for its proximity to Fountain Creek, which runs through it. With 2.65 miles of stream coursing through the property, Hanna Ranch protects important floodplain and upland habitats with essential plant communities and associated wildlife to help it thrive. Featured in the book "Fast Food Nation" and dubbed the "eco-cowboy," Hanna was an early adopter of Holistic Resource Management practices, sat on numerous environmental boards and was president of the Colorado Cattleman's Association. Hanna became a leader in the environmental ranching movement that set out to protect the West from the relentless encroachment of development and misuse. Hanna's opinion was so widely sought and respected that some believed he could run for governor of Colorado. But when his dream of harmony and sustainability ran up against the reality of family conflict and mounting threats to the land, Hanna lost hope.
Episode 17
Perfect Strangers
Tue, Apr 28, 2015
What lies beyond the art of giving and receiving? In _Perfect Strangers_ we meet Ellie, a kind-hearted masseuse, who decides she wants to share the gift of life with a stranger who has posted online that she needs a kidney. More than 98,000 people in the United States are waiting for a new kidney. Tragically, one-third of them will die before a kidney from a deceased donor becomes available. Five hundred miles away, Kathy endures nightly dialysis and loses hope of receiving a transplant until she hears from Ellie. They meet and form a deep and genuine friendship. Over the course of four years, however, both women face unexpected challenges. As their parallel journeys unfold, the film raises questions about what motivates an individual to perform an extreme act of compassion. When we learn that Kathy's body would reject Ellie's kidney, we become disheartened along with them. Ellie firm in her commitment to gift a kidney, explores new and even anonymous options. She is open to all possibilities as long as her kidney does not "go to Dick Cheney," she says half-jokingly.
Episode 18
9-Man
Tue, May 5, 2015
Every summer, teams battle to win Chinatown's ultimate championship. Played out on rough and tumble asphalt, 9-Man is a showcase of athletic talent and culture born from a history of discrimination.
Episode 19
Winning Girl
Tue, May 12, 2015
Teshya Alo is 16 years old and weighs 125 pounds. But on the judo and wrestling mats, she throws women twice her age and many pounds heavier. And she beats boys. Now she has her sights set on taking gold at both the judo and wrestling world championships. If she does, she'd be the first and youngest athlete ever to win world championships in two different sports in the same year. But it won't be easy. Teshya lives in Hawai'i and the cost to travel to mainland tournaments drains her family's resources. She's a student at Kamehameha Schools and she's going through puberty. A WINNING GIRL follows the four-year journey of this part-Polynesian teenage judo and wrestling phenomenon from Hawai'i, and in doing so tells the dynamic story of an elite athlete on her ascent, a girl facing the challenges of growing up, and an entire family dedicated to a single dream.
Episode 20
Cambodian Son
Tue, May 19, 2015
Born in a refugee camp in Cambodia, poet Kosal Khiev was lucky to escape the war-torn country before he was two years old. Granted asylum, Khiev grew up in the U.S. with his mother and siblings. By the age of 16, he was convicted of attempted murder and spent the next 14 years in jail-including 18 months of solitary confinement in the New Folsom State Prison in California. Fatefully, during his time in solitary Khiev experienced a breakthrough that forged his path to freedom. In jail, he found writing and spoken-word mentors and upon release became a student/participant in the inaugural class of "The Actors' Gang" led by Artistic Director and Founder Tim Robbins. As a refugee with no permanent resident status in the U.S., however, Khiev was deported to Cambodia, a country he's never known. "How do you survive when you belong nowhere?" The documentary follows a year in the life of Khiev, while he navigates his new fame as Phnom Penh's premiere poet and receives the most important invitation of his career-to represent the Kingdom of Cambodia at the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Later he visits France for the first time where his life comes full circle and he faces a past he never dreamed of.
Episode 21
Endless Abilities
Tue, May 26, 2015
In Narragansett, Rhode Island, Zachary was having the time of his life-surfing on the beach, enjoying bonfires with friends until the night he and best friend, Timmy, got into an accident. Zachary was rushed off to the hospital. Timmy didn't make it. After being hospitalized for 6 months and overcoming feelings of guilt, Zach realized that he was going to be in a chair for the rest of his life. Zach doesn't see himself as disabled and says that some of the coolest and most interesting people he knows are in chairs. So in the summer of 2012, Zach, along with his best friends Will, Tripp and Harvey, retrofit a vehicle for a cross-country trip in search of inspiration. Along the way they meet practitioners of the adaptive sports movement, where differently abled persons rock climb, swim competitively, play soccer and more. They also meet pioneers like Kirk Bauer, founder of Disabled Sports USA. He, with a group of war veterans, created the organization in 1967 to encourage persons like themselves to live full, integrated lives. From rehabilitation patients to Paralympic athletes, ENDLESS ABILITIES captures the spirit of resilient people who defy being defined by their physical disability. Ultimately, Zach and his friends, learn that sports really are a great equalizer, unifying people of all abilities who rise to full potential on the playing field.
Episode 22
If You Build It
Tue, Jun 2, 2015
IF YOU BUILD IT follows designers-educators-activists Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller, to Bertie County, the poorest in North Carolina. Their goal is to offer a compelling and hopeful vision for a new kind of classroom in which students learn how to use the tools of design to build their own futures. Living on credit and grant money, Emily and Matthew work doggedly to persuade a reticent school board to invest in them in the wake of a failed investment to renovate a school that now sits abandoned and vandalized. Determined to prove their model works, they successfully engage teenagers like Stevie, who tends to his family's farm, along with other members of the high school class. The parents of these teens are hopeful they can be engaged to use their minds and intellectual faculties to achieve gainful employment and a bright future someday. The town is concerned not only about the continual brain-drain but about the future viability of Bertie County itself. The documentary follows the teachers and their students, who armed with the tools of design through a year-long, full-scale project, transform the community, and more importantly, their lives.
Episode 23
Where God Likes To Be
Tue, Jun 9, 2015
WHERE GOD LIKES TO BE focuses on three young protagonists full of hope and promise - Andi Running Wolf, Edward Tailfeathers, and Douglas Fitzgerald - following them over the course of a summer that marks a turning point in all of their lives. Each grapples with whether to leave and pursue opportunities far from home, or stay behind with friends and family potentially struggling with limited opportunity and marginalization. Edward is looking for work but doesn't even get a call back from national stores and fast food chains. He admits that there is not much to do and most of his friends smoke weed. Like most youth his age, he plays loud rock music in the garage with friends. In the intimacy of his bedroom, time stands still as he strums his guitar and hums a love song. Andi, who graduated high school with honors, is on her way to the University of Montana in Missoula, taking with her lots of photos of family and friends as well as her favorite poster of Sitting Bull. She is majoring in Native American studies and hopes her roommate is not too messy. On a weekend home she returns to find her grandfather passed away and the home of her childhood condemned. Heartbroken, she sits by the cemetery's entrance at the foot of an ancient tree. Doug loves the outdoors, and is proud to be a true cowboy and an Indian. A young family man, he worries that families today are not teaching their kids about their ancestors and connection to the land which nurtures their identity, as well as their native language and culture. An intimate and rare look at the Blackfeet Indian reservation, WHERE GOD LIKES TO BE looks longingly and lovingly at the place Andi, Edward and Doug call home.
Episode 24
By The River of Babylon
Tue, Jun 16, 2015
BY THE RIVER OF BABYLON: An Elegy for South Louisiana looks at the disappearing culture and environment in Southwest Louisiana: its marshlands and man's calamitous engineering mistakes, and the unique habitat that gave rise to the Cajun and Creole, music, culture and people left in its wake. With compelling footage and expert commentary from Bob Marshall, a local Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, among others, the film documents the facades and interiors of a good number of famed but decaying dance halls. Riveting performances by leading Zydeco proponents such as Clifton Chenier and Beau Jocque are juxtaposed by thorough and thoughtful explanations such as the rapacious dredging of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet through wetlands to give oil tankers direct access to the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana, a major source of energy for the nation, is being destroyed bit by bit and the region's eco-system and marshland continues to be damaged by flooding due to both storms and river reconstruction. Like the famed music of the region, the documentary is both a love letter and a lament over the destruction of the region and by association, the decline of its culture and way of life.
Episode 25
A Self-Made Man
Tue, Jun 23, 2015
Gender identity issues often appear in early childhood. Some kids, like Tony, feel they were born in the wrong body and this belief conflicts with how they view and define themselves. Once such a young person makes up his or her mind to embark on a sex change both parents and the teenager face new questions and daunting challenges that they would have never imagined. Tony Ferrailo knows this from experience. As a teenager, he successfully transitioned from being female to male. Now a Certified Life Coach and Transgender Youth Advocate in New Haven, CT, we watch Tony in his role as educator and activist, guiding children as young as 8, and their parents through the arduous journey. Tony thoughtfully acknowledges from multiple perspectives the complicated dynamics of transitioning, and he creates safe spaces and support groups for teens and their families. Formerly identifying as a lesbian, Tony comes to terms with the complexities of his own life as a female-to-male transgender person. He honors the little girl that he was and tattoos that image of himself on his arm. He also muses about everlasting love and friendship. With lots of compassion, laughter and togetherness, "A Self-Made Man" follows Tony as he helps young people and their families transition safely.
Episode 26
Before You Know It
Tue, Jun 30, 2015
With humor and candor, BEFORE YOU KNOW IT celebrates the bold and brave lives of active gay senior citizens who have witnessed unbelievable change in their lifetimes: from the Stonewall Riots and gay liberation to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and gay marriage rights. The film introduces us to Dennis, a gentle-hearted widower in his 70s who explores his sexual identity and fondness for dressing in women's clothing under the name "Dee," and becomes a resident at Rainbow Vista, a gay retirement community outside of Portland, Oregon. In Harlem, New York, we meet Ty, an impassioned activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, who hears nothing but wedding bells once gay marriage legislation passes in New York; and, Robert, known as "The Mouth," who was born and reared in Houston, Texas. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Robert always knew he was a "sissy." But in Galveston, Texas, he is a feisty bar owner who presses on when his neighborhood institution is threatened. Born before the modern gay rights movement, Dennis, Ty and Robert have become pioneers in an unprecedented "out" generation of elders. They are also among the estimated 2.4 million LGBT Americans over the age of 55. While some gay Americans adhered to the cultural norms of earlier times, others became activists and made it their mission to live out, loud and proud. Each has faced discrimination, neglect and exclusion. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT reminds us that while LGBT elders face a specific set of issues, aging and its challenges are universal.
